Everybody Loves Arthur
by theredspool
Summary: Inevitably, everyone is a little bit in love with Arthur. Arthur/Team, done for inceptionkink: the whole team muses on Arthur's capabilities.
1. Cobb

When Cobb meets Arthur for the first time, he is highly impressed. Nash had not exaggerated-Arthur is the most measured, precise, and impeccably-dressed man that Cobb has ever met.

He hires him on the spot.

Arthur is good at his job. He is thorough, well-researched, and his follow-through is unmatched. After a few jobs, Cobb finds himself not only appreciative of Arthur's talents, but admiring. He finds himself practically gushing to Mal about Arthur's skill in research, intelligence-he even makes inserting the IV pinch less.

"Should I be worried?" Mal jokes over a fennel salad. "Have you fallen out of love with me and in love with your point man?"

Cobb assures her honestly that he could never fall out of love with her. But he knows that the two concepts are not mutually exclusive.


	2. Nash

Nash suggested Arthur for the "Cobb job". They had been roommates in college, both recruited by the same well-manicured "headhunter" who thought their talents would be well-put to use in an exciting new job market. Nash studied engineering-his mind is built to build.

Arthur had been a physics student with a penchant for neuroscience. And politics. And history. "Show-off," Eames-who had never attended university-often teases.

But he isn't, really. Arthur is matter-of-fact: never understated, never exaggerated. Nash has never been able to put his finger on it-Arthur's powers of retention are practically supernatural, but he is always the height of considerate about it. Take Nash, who was never at the top of his class, although he'd been the biggest risk-taker. Arthur had been the darling of the department-of several departments-but never made Nash feel inferior.

Actually, Nash has always secretly considered Arthur his compliment. The yin to his proverbial yang. Arthur is the clean, cautious roommate who always remembers to buy milk. Nash is...well, not that. But Arthur never moves out, which makes Nash eternally grateful. Particularly on the day the sprinklers in the building malfunction, and Arthur emerges from his room wearing only a soaked white undershirt and navy boxer briefs.

When Saito's lackeys pull him from the helicopter, he has no illusions about his-now shortened-life.

He calls clinging white cotton to mind.


	3. Saito

Saito knows an excellent employee when he sees one.

Certainly Mr. Cobb is the best at what he does-but that isn't the same thing. Mr. Cobb is unpredictable, impossible to trust. But Arthur is meticulous, immaculate in his process. He has the qualifications to be Saito's personal assistant on his precision with the briefcase contraption alone. His stable presence is reassuring to Saito, who could use a companion with some social grace, with some patience.

The slim cut of Arthur's suits doesn't hurt, either.


	4. Eames

Eames has been with Arthur from the beginning. Cobb hired Eames with surprising swiftness, considering he hadn't yet done a proper job. He supposed Cobb leaned heavily on the recommendation from his esteemed mentor. But Eames was no slouch-he was charming, enthusiastic, and talented. He lightened the mood. He expected to have fun.

He hadn't expected Arthur. Considering that the profession was of dubious legality, he had expected someone more like himself-someone with a bit of derring-do. Instead, he got a stuffy risk-manager with all the spontaneity of a coat rack. (But he had to admit, the coats themselves were quite stylish, in a prissy way.)

The first practical joke had not been well-received.

Arthur wipes the lipstick from his mouth and stalks away to wait for the kick in private. The brunette reverts back to Eames, who calls after him. "Oh, come now, darling!" The brunette was a barista he'd seen Arthur chat up once or twice, but it was merely a formality. Arthur had seen right through the disguise-he's too damn good at his job, if Eames has anything to say about it-but he couldn't dodge the kiss quickly enough.

Eames watches Arther's back and purses his lips thoughtfully.

He'd do it again, too.


	5. Yusuf

Yusef can't profess to know much about Arthur. What he does know is that Arthur is a man who sees the world in black and white-interesting for a criminal. One did the job well or-actually, there wasn't another option. Arthur works quickly, he's calculated and no-nonsense. He projects total control, total knowledge. His slim, pale hands were steady. Yusef admired they way they handled his delicate chemicals. They were like clockwork in the way he prepped the PASIV. They never faltered, even when he slid the steel into his colleagues' skin-Yusef shuddered; that part had always gotten to him.

Those hands could kill. Those hands could...do a lot of things.

He could work more closely with a man like that.


	6. Ariadne

Ariadne immediately puts him at the top of her mental List. After all, he's closest to her in age out of the whole group.

But as she gets to know him, she becomes aware that he is light-years ahead of her. He's smart. He's a grown man, set in his ways. Methodical, professional, cool. She is a graduate student who considers a khaki skirt 'business casual'.

She knows he's good-natured, even if he doesn't smile much. She relishes the rare smirk he allows when Eames cracks a particularly distasteful joke, or when she watches her favorite movie musicals online during late nights at the warehouse. She sometimes hears him humming along with the soundtrack, and it makes her blush-why should she be so tense about a guy who hums showtunes? Clearly he's just a softy who likes Rodgers and Hammerstein as much as she does.

But when he steals a kiss from her, she knows she's out of her depth.

And she likes it.


	7. Fischer

Fischer glimpses the best-dressed man he's ever seen. Apart from himself, of course. He is sitting across the aisle of the private plane in a black suit, dark hair slicked back. He's young, younger than Fischer himself, but gives off the unmistakable air of a man who is in complete control of his surroundings. Fischer very nearly feels threatened, but oddly attracted.

Fischer catches himself staring and looks away.


End file.
